Method of drying laundry



Nov. 20, 1951 A. MILLER METHOD OF DRYING LAUNDRY Filed March 1, 1946 INVENTOR ABE MILLER Patented Nov. 20, 1951 UNITED S TATES METHOD'GF' DRYING LAUNDRI Abe. Miller, Detroit, Mich.

Application March 1, 1946, Serial no. 651,205

This invention relates to a method of dryingand, in particular, it relates to a, method of dryingin which wet laundry is subjected to a pressing operation in order to express therefrom, substantial quantities of water so as to leave the laundry in a semi-dry condition. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for breaking up a bale of compressed semi-dry laundry into smaller units.

The present invention provides a method for drying or semi-drying a quantity of laundry by forcing, upwardly through a truck containing.

the wet laundry, the quantity of laundry against a retaining and draining compartment. Hydraulic means is used to compress the laundry which permits a considerable force to be applied, thus leaving the laundry in a. semi-dry state. When the laundry is thus compressed into a bale or cake, automatic means are actuated for opening a door associated with the container and for forcing the cake of semi-dry laundry out of the container and onto a conveyor.

When laundry is thus compressed into a bale, the overlapping articles of laundry which constitute the bale usually make it difficult to break up the bale into smaller units. Bales of this character are usually relatively large and are therefore diilicult to handle as a single unit. Furthermore, the bales of semi-dry laundry, after they leave the compressing unit, are usuallyplaced inaa rotatable u drying cylinderin which the material is agitated and subjected to a current of hot air. It has therefore been customary and necessary to manually separate the bale into smaller units in order that it may be more effectively acted upon in subsequent drying operations.

In accordance with the practice of my invention I provide a box-like truck into which the wet laundry is originally placed. This truck :includes partitions which maintain the wet laundry in a separate state. When the truck is fllledxwith the'wet articles of laundry the-partitions are removed and the contents thereafter.

compressed into bale form. Since the articles-oi laundry, in part, are prevented from overlapping each other, due to the presence of the partitions, the bale of laundry after it is compressed is easily-broken up into smaller units in accord-- :2 :znczwith the number of partitions present in the rue The present invention is intended for use with sin-apparatus which iszmore-fully described in my earlienpastentapplication, Serial No; 628,084, filed on. November 13, 1945, and reference may be had thereto for a more complete. understanding of the apparatus with which the present invention cooperates.

Among the principal objects of the present invention is to provide in combination with a bale pressing apparatus a method whereby a plura-lity of partitions are removable prior to the pressing-operation; to provide a method of compressingiaundryinto'bale form in which the bale maythereafter be easily separated into smaller units; to provide a method of forming a, bale of compressed laundry which requires no manual separation or division of the bale; and, to pro-- vide a. method of causing the bale of laundry to be divided into a plurality of smaller units by an efiicient and economical method.

"These and other objects and advantages will appear more fully in the following detailed dcscriptionwhen considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figured is a diagrammatical view, in elevation and in section, of an apparatus with which the present invention is cooperable;

.'Figure 2 is a perspective view partly brokenaway illustrating a partitioned truck container;

Figure-3 is-a perspective view of abale oi compressed laund ry :'-illustrating the manner in which the ha-leis separable; and,

Figure 4 *is a-perspective view, partly broken away, of a truck container which is a modification of the container shown in Figure 2.

With reference tothe drawing and in particular to Figure l, I show an apparatus consisting generally of a housing attached to a base or door 2. An hydraulic cylinder 3 is positioned in a; pit 4- located below the floor level and includes a platen 5 attached to a piston rod 6 of the-cylinder 3. A truck container 1- provided with casters 8 is adapted for positioning within the housing; and above the cylinder 3. A door 2! forming part of the housing l permits ingress or" egress of the container 1 with the housing I. Theoontalner 1 is provided with a movable bot-- tom plate 9 which is engageable with thelaten l for moving the contents of the truck 1 upwardly out of the container 1 and in a compressed state in the chamber Hi. When wet laundry is thus compressed into the chamber In a door I I may be opened and a cylinder [2 having a platen l3 operated to force the bale of compressed laundry out of the chamber In and onto a conveyor belt M, or other receptacle, from whence the bale may be moved to a subsequent processing station.

As shown in Figure 2, the truck container 1 which includes a vertically movable bottom plate 9 is provided with partition members I5 which divide the container into four separate compartments. These partition members are removable as a unit from the container 1 by manually lifting the partitions in an upward vertical movement out of the container 1. A handle portion l6 facilitates this manual operation.

In order to maintain the partitions in proper registry with the container 1, projections I! are provided at each upper corner of thepartitions l5. These projections I! are adapted for registry with slots l8 formed in the side walls of the container 1. Additionalfprojections i9 extend from the lower edge of the partitions l5 at or.

near the outer lower edge of the partitions. These projections 19 are engageable with slots 20 formed in the bottom plate 9. By such an arrangement, the partitions 15 are maintained in rigid relationship with the container 1 while at the same time the partitions are readily removable in an upward manner. Preferably, the partitions are formed of light sheet metal, such as aluminum or magnesium alloy in order to facilitate manual handling.

In the operation of the present method of compressing wet laundry the partitions 15 are positioned, as shown in Figure 2, in relation with the container '1. Articles of wet laundry are placed in the container until the four compartments, as shown, are filled, or partially filled with the articles of laundry. Thereafter, by means of the handle I6, the partitions I5 are withdrawn from the container 1 and the container is positioned within the housing I, as shown in Figure l, and the door 2| is closed. The hydraulic cylinder 3 is energized and the wet laundry is moved out of the container I and compressed into the compartment Hi to form a bale of compressed laundry 25. When the door I l is opened and the bale is ejected from the housing by means of the cylinder l2, the bale will readily break up into smaller units 26, such as illustrated in Figure 3. This is due to the fact that the articles of laundry do not overlap each other from one compartment to another when originally placed in the container 1. When the partitions are removed and the laundry is compressed into a bale the movement is entirely in a vertical direction parallel to the vertical planes of the partitions I5, thus preventing any appreciable overlapping of articles of wet laundry after the partitions are removed. a

Figure 4 illustrates a modification of the invention and shows a container 22 which is substantially similar to the container 1. Partitions 23 extend diagonally of the container 23 so as to form four separate compartments of triangular shape in plan view. A handle 24 facilitates man- By utilizing As thus shown and described, it is believed apparent that I have provided a novel method for permitting bales of wet laundry to be broken up into smaller units; and while I have described and illustrated a container which is divided into four compartments it is to be understood that I contemplate a container which may be divided into two or more compartments.

While I have shown a preferred method of practicing my-invention, it is to be understood that it is susceptible of those modifications which appear obviously within the spirit of the invention and as appearing within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In the method of semi-drying wet laundry, the steps comprising, placing wet articles of laundry in a container in separate compartments formed by divisional partitions, removing the partitions while allowing the articles of laundry to remain in the container, and forcing the laundry out of the container in a direction parallel to the planes of the partitions and into a compressed state without substantial disturbance of the line of demarcation formed by the partitions which separated the articles of laundry,

7 and allowing the compressed bale of semi-dry laundry to separate readily into units as determined by the pattern of the partitions.

3. Inthe method of semi-drying wet laundry, the steps comprising, inserting partitions in a temporarily fixed position in an open top container, placing articles of wet laundry in the separate compartments formed by the divisional partitions, removing the partitions while allowing the articles of laundry to remain in the container, forcing the laundry out of the container and compressing the laundry without substantial disturbance of the line of demarcation formed by the partitions which separated the article of laundry, and allowing the compressed bale of semi-dry laundry to separate readily into units as determined by the pattern of the partitions.

4. The method of extracting water or other liquid from laundry material contained in a laundry basket which comprises, first placing in the basket a removable partition unit to form separate compartments within the basket, then depositing wet laundry articles in the compartments, then removing the partition unit from the basket to leave the wet laundry in the basket in several contiguous groups, and then simultaneously submitting the material of the several groups to the action of a power press head to extract the liquid therefrom, without appreciably intermingling the articles of one group with those of another and then separating the groups.

5. The method of extracting water or other liquid from laundry material contained in a laundry basket which comprises, first placingin the basket a removable partition unit to form separate compartments within the basket, then depositing wet laundry articles in the compartments, then removing the partition unit from the basket to leave the wet laundry in the basket in several contiguous groups, and. then simultaneously submitting the material of the several groups to the action of a power press head to remove the material from the basket and to extract the liquid therefrom, without appreciably intermingling the articles of one group with those of another.

ABE MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 255,798 Leake Apr. 4, 1882 1,671,913 Troy May 29, 1928 1,768,922 Oliver July 1, 1930 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 162,105 Great Britain Apr. 28, 1921 

